In August 1946, the United Nations Economic and Social Committee (Ecosoc) draws up a questionnaire aimed at all Western European countries so as to calculate how much work is necessary for the economic recovery of these countries.

On 6 August 1946, the Belgian Government authorities submit to the United Nations Economic and Social Committee (Ecosoc) their completed questionnaire on the progress made in Belgium’s economic recovery.

On 7 August 1946, in a memorandum submitted to the Subcommittee of the United Nations for the Economic Recovery of Devastated Regions, the Belgian delegation lists the impact of the war on the national economy and gives an initial overview of reconstruction work.

On 22 August 1946, the Luxembourg Foreign Minister sends various other Luxembourg Ministers a letter containing a questionnaire, drawn up by the United Nations Committee on the Economic Reconstruction of Devastated Areas, with a view to gaining insight into pressing economic needs in Luxembourg.

On 27 August 1946, the Luxembourg Ministry of Economic Affairs submits to the Department of Foreign Affairs its answers to the questionnaire drawn up by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) on the post-war economic situation in Luxembourg.

In June 1947, the Grand Duchy’s Ministry for Economic Affairs conveys to the United Nations Economic and Social Committee (Ecosoc) data on the economic recovery work undertaken in Luxembourg.

On 6 June 1948, the Belgian newspaper Le Phare Dimanche comments on the figures set out in a report published by the UN Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) on the present and future situation of the European economy.

In 1968, Karl Gunnar Myrdal, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) from 1947 to 1957 and later winner of the Nobel Prize for Economics, summarises the work carried out by this Institution during its first 20 years.

In this interview, Professor Henri Rieben, President of the Jean Monnet Foundation for Europe (Lausanne), describes the work carried out in Geneva in the immediate post-war period by the UN Economic Commission for Europe and emphasises the pioneering role of the Steel Division led by the Belgian, Philippe de Selliers de Moranville.